A new work by Gary Biltcliffe and Caroline Hoare is always an unexpected joy. Here, the Dorset-based duo carry forward some of the themes from their Spine of Albion saga - and wind in more than a few memes engendered by Hamish Miller - to produce a radically novel and quite compelling storyline.

The premise is that all places have a Centre. Some of these are essentially geopolitical but, as often as not, they are also the critical core location of a community. If you thought the Centre of the British Isles was ‘somewhere north of Oxford’, think again, and try the Cumbrian coast - or even the Isle of Man.

Among the Centres considered are those pivotal to every section and region of Greater Britain, and to the Celtic fringes in particular. Gary even manages to shoehorn in a few cameo trips - Sun and the Serpent style - down lesser-known pilgrim routes, such as the Saints Way in Cornwall and Manannan’s Belt on Mann.

There are subtle subtexts, too, to consider - such as the role of the divine feminine and the healing of the land by stone carrying. However, this is no work of whimsy. Hard-nosed history and gritty geography rub shoulders with the spiritual and the telluric - yet the disciplines retain their integrity, as do the authors.

As ever, Gary’s prose is relentless, mesmerising and, at times, almost addictive. He hardly wastes a sentence, let alone a paragraph, without relating some fascinating fact or curious concept. It’s a sure-fire sign of any good book that you are left wondering why you never noticed the content and the significance of the text for yourself. The Centre of your own personal domain is hidden in plain sight.

The Power of Centre will have you scratching around for OS maps you never knew you needed, and trawling the internet for places you’ve never heard of. Yet, for UK readers, we are never far from our own Centres - and even those from further afield are always close to a compassionate consideration of an inner sense of place.
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Nigel Twinn

‘Reading this book takes one on a series of pilgrimages that cannot fail to get the travel bug itching. History, of both conventional and less attested and esoteric varieties, gives a background to the sites, and is threaded through with personal biographical memories – the reader can easily share their excitement as fate brings them the kind of experience that affirms the sense of being guided on a path of discovery.’.

Northern Earth book review issue 153 June 2018 By John Billingsley

Another masterly work by the authors of The Spine of Albion, (reviewed in a previous Newsletter), The Power of Centre, carries on the work of understanding the landscape in terms of Sacred Geometry. As The Spine of Albion looked at the longest and most important ley in Britain, so The Power of Centre, as the name suggests, looks at the concept of ‘centrality’ in earth mysteries. The foreword and cover illustration are by Glastonbury-based artist and author Yuri Leitch. The book discusses sacred centres throughout the world, but has a specific focus on Britain. Included in this discussion are the geographical and spiritual centres of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Also discussed is the Stone of Destiny – originally kept at Scone, in central Scotland – and it’s possible Egyptian origins, with particular reference to Scota the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and the well-documented theory that, not only did she travel to the British isles, but that Scotland itself is named after her. The two central leys of Britain, the Michael Line and the Belinus Line, are analysed. Much reference is made in the book to Brigid/Brigantia, the goddess representing the British Isles. Fortingall, with its famous very old yew, at the centre of Scotland, is discussed, as is the Castle of Vortigern, the legendary Welsh king who lived at the centre of Wales. The authors also look at the four provinces of Ireland and the original central fifth province of Meath, which is of great interest as Meath is where the great burial sites of Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth are, and where also is the Hill of Tara, known as ‘the seat of the High Kings’. References to Phoenician traders and Druid priests and their central role in ancient Britain abound. All-in-all, this is one of the most fascinating and well-researched books of its ilk that is out there.